Judy Murray Interview: Tennis needs more female coaches

May 12, 2024

Here at Sportsister we love those who are passionate about women’s sport. So when we had the opportunity to chat to Judy Murray, one of the most high profile campaigners for greater coverage of women’s sport and encouraging girls to get active, we jumped at the chance.

Speaking at a HEAD masterclass coaching session, where Judy spent time on court with some of the most promising young players between the ages of 12 and 15, she said that employing female coaches who understood young girls would encourage more to take up tennis.

“We need more female coaches coaching as they understand and handle better the needs of little girls. Obviously little girls wont feel comfortable with big guys telling them what to do so we need to look at all of that,” she said.

She also stressed that girls often looked for different things from their tennis, and that forming strong friendships in the game was crucial.

“Often girls in general tend not to be as competitive as boys, so they look for the social aspect in tennis. There needs to be more team type competitions and training as they like to come with their friends.”

Girls are currently outnumbered four to one by boys taking up the sport and Judy stressed that adapting the game of tennis, to work with the other important factors in teenage girls’ lives was essential.

“Girls have been dropping out of sport in their teens for years and years, it’s not tennis in particular, it’s every sport,” she explained.

“Other things kick in, exams, parties, boyfriends. Girls can get distracted from sport and that’s where you need more strong people and role models to keep them in the game, by providing things that stimulate them to keep them coming back.”

Making competitions more sociable with barbecues and discos at the end of tournaments was just one idea that Judy thought could make a difference. She also suggested more mixed competitions in the mid-teen age group, as boys became a bigger focus in girls’ lives.

A prominent campaigner for better coverage of women’s sport in the media, and committed to getting more girls active, Judy is currently working on an all-girls tennis programme to encourage young girls to pick up a racquet.

“It is all about them having fun. It’s not technical in anyway, they don’t even need to know how to play tennis but it gets them interested and it then prepares them better to go into mini tennis, so they go in more confident and understanding the basics and with a group of pals to play with which is so important for little girls.”

Judy also said that along with more female coaches, greater representation of women on boards and on governing bodies was crucial in achieving equality for women’s sport.

“I’ve got quite involved in the whole women in sport issue, since I started doing the Fed Cup. We need to get more girls, more active, we need to get more women into decision making positions on boards and governing bodies in order to influence things on behalf of other females.

“There’s quite a lot of work to be done and it all links into the whole issue of the very, very limited media coverage of women’s sport,” added Judy.

With Wimbledon looming, Judy said the future of British women’s tennis was bright.

“It is all about the future with our girls. We’ve got three girls (Laura Robson, Heather Watson and Johanna Konta) who are between 20 and 24 who are very good players.

“I think in three or four years we will be in a position to do some damage in the Fed Cup, but the long term development of women’s tennis in Britain is going to be all about getting more girls playing and more females coaching.”

Judy Murray was speaking at a Team HEAD junior players coaching masterclass as part of her role as a brand ambassador for HEAD. For more information visit www.HEAD.com

Beth Shine, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine

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